Announcing that the government has decided to start a sustained dialogue on Kashmir, Rajnath Singh informed that the former Intelligence Bureau director Dineshwar Sharma has been appointed as the representative of the government to initiate dialogue in the insurgency-hit state.

“The govt has decided to appoint the former director of IB, Dineshwar Sharma as the representative of the government to initiate dialogue,” said Singh while addressing a press conference.

“As a Representative of Government of India, former Director of IB, Dineshwar Sharma will initiate a sustained interaction and dialogue to understand legitimate aspirations of people in Jammu and Kashmir,” he added.

Rajnath asserted that the outreach process will begin soon, emphasizing especially on the youth of Kashmir. The government representative, Mr. Dineshwar Sharma, will have all the rights to engage whatever parties he wishes to.

Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s independence day speech, Singh said the Narendra Modi-led central government is sensitive to issues pertaining to Jammu and Kashmir.

“The Prime Minister’s statement had clearly underlined our government’s policy and intention towards Jammu and Kashmir,” he said, adding that Centre’s representative will engage with all walks of life in the state and understand their legitimate aspirations.

However, P. Chidambaram chose to take an indirect jibe at the ‘muscular approach’ employed by the Centre in the state and tweeted, “With appointment of interlocutor, I hope government has finally admitted ‘muscular approach’ has failed in J&K”

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah termed the government’s move to initiate a dialogue with stakeholders a “good one” but took an indirect dig at the Centre, saying it had taken a “U-turn”. Abdullah also said that it was good that the government finally realized “it was a political problem”.